THIS WEEK: We'll start with a reminder that the SRI Rankings preview has picked both the men's and women's winner of the U.S. Open for two years in a row: Davenport/Rafter in 1998, and S.Williams/ Agassi in 1999. These may not sound so unlikely now, but the odds against the championship pairs were 50/1 and 60/1 respectively. This tournament makes the "hobby" worthwhile.

This year, it won't be the out-of-form Rafter, while Agassi is a good chance. However, the computer is tipping another Aussie, Lleyton Hewitt, to defeat Gustavo Kuerten in the final. If you can find that exacta, take the astronomical odds. Kuerten has slipped into top spot overall by a point; the next fortnight will decide the order far better.

SRI Rankings U.S. Open Special. Outdoor Hardcourt Only. 28th Aug 2000
Rank	Name	Rating Points	SRI Rank (all surfaces)	Comments
1	Lleyton Hewitt	1212	4	Clear favourite!
2	Pete Sampras	1145	2
3	Gustavo Kuerten	1134	1
4	Andre Agassi	1126	3
5	Richard Krajicek	1113	9
6	Alex Corretja	1090	5
7	Nicolas Escude	1086	19
8	Thomas Enqvist	1054	7
9	Magnus Norman	1031	6
10	Tim Henman	1018	8
11	Todd Martin	1005	12
12	Fabrice Santoro	979	34	Harcourt specialist?!
13	Nicolas Kiefer	948	17
14	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	917	23
15	Sebastien Grosjean	912	20
16	Jiri Novak	902	39
17	Wayne Ferreira	884	27
18	Arnaud Clement	875	38
19	Michael Chang	866	30
20	Jan-Michael Gambill	864	18
21	Magnus Gustafsson	864	32	7 matches only
22	Marat Safin	860	14
23	Carlos Moya	860	24
24	Wayne Arthurs	828	67
25	Mark Philippoussis	827	26
26	Greg Rusedski	819	11
27	Slava Dosedel	818	29
28	Alexander Popp	815	78
29	Nicolas Lapentti	812	35
30	Hicham Arazi	799	51
31	Marcelo Rios	795	13
34	Juan Carlos Ferrero	768	15
38	Cedric Pioline	742	10	Poor hardcourt season
39	Patrick Rafter	736	16	Very poor hardcourt season

 

SRI Rankings Top 50 Issue #M127. 28th Aug 2000
Rank	Name	Rating Points	Rank Change	ATP Rank
1	Gustavo Kuerten	1233	+1	2
2	Pete Sampras	1232	-1	4
3	Andre Agassi	1195	0	1
4	Lleyton Hewitt	1190	0	9
5	Alex Corretja	1168	0	8
6	Magnus Norman	1155	0	3
7	Thomas Enqvist	1116	0	7
8	Tim Henman	1081	0	11
9	Richard Krajicek	1059	+5	25
10	Cedric Pioline	1050	-1	10
11	Greg Rusedski	1041	-1	28
12	Todd Martin	1039	-1	33
13	Marcelo Rios	1004	+5	19
14	Marat Safin	993	-1	6
15	Juan Carlos Ferrero	990	0	12
16	Patrick Rafter	989	-4	21
17	Nicolas Kiefer	985	-1	14
18	Jan-Michael Gambill	985	+1	27
19	Nicolas Escude	983	-2	17
20	Sebastien Grosjean	967	0	29
21	Tommy Haas	959	+1	38
22	Karol Kucera	956	+1	45
23	Yevgeny Kafelnikov	954	-2	5
24	Carlos Moya	949	+5	59
25	Albert Costa	926	-1	23
26	Mark Philippoussis	922	-1	15
27	Wayne Ferreira	922	0	20
28	Andreas Vinciguerra	920	-2	42
29	Slava Dosedel	920	+2	51
30	Michael Chang	919	-2	24
31	Byron Black	918	-1	31
32	Magnus Gustafsson	896	+1	52
33	Mariano Puerta	893	-1	18
34	Fabrice Santoro	891	+9	32
35	Nicolas Lapentti	888	0	16
36	Roger Federer	887	-2	40
37	Francisco Clavet	884	-1	46
38	Arnaud Clement	876	-1	35
39	Jiri Novak	873	0	39
40	Gaston Gaudio	866	+1	26
41	Andrei Pavel	850	+7	37
42	Marc Rosset	845	-2	30
43	Magnus Larsson	842	+3	60
44	Karim Alami	841	-2	34
45	Dominik Hrbaty	834	0	36
46	Jason Stoltenberg	831	-8	69
47	Mikael Tillstrom	826	-3	61
48	Agustin Calleri	826	+1	76
49	Younes El Aynaoui	823	+1	22
50	Franco Squillari	820	+1	13
55	Sjeng Schalken	798	-8	53
78	Alexander Popp	703	+13	84

Rating Winners:
Richard Krajicek	+55	(SF Hamlet 00, 2R 99)
Fabrice Santoro	+44	(QF Hamlet 00, 2R 99)
Carlos Moya	+35	(QF Hamlet 00, 1R 99)

Rating Losers:
Jason Stoltenberg	-38	(SF Hamlet 99)
Sjeng Schalken	-33	(SF Boston 99)
Patrick Rafter	-18	(3R Hamlet 00)
Mikael Tillstrom	-16	(1R ret Hamlet 00)

[ wo - walkover, wd - withdrew, ret - retired, def - defeated ]

blurb version 3.0